ZIPS Franchising, LLC, announced a series of new appointments designed to infuse the garment care company with deep industry knowledge and optimize it for system expansion and unit growth. The company has added Michael Weisel as vice president of operations and continuous improvement, reporting to President/CEO Bob Barry, and Kristina VanDruten as franchise marketing manager, reporting to Chief Marketing & Customer Experience Officer Mary Ann Donaghy. In addition, Director of Operations and Technology Katheen Razmus will now focus exclusively on addressing the expanding chain’s growing technology needs as director of technology and IT security.
Both Weisel and VanDruten arrived at ZIPS after serving in similar roles at Tide Cleaners. Weisel spent most of the past three years as the company’s head of cleaning capability, and, for the past year, held additional responsibilities as franchise development director. Prior to Tide, he spent two years at Rent the Runway as senior manager of drycleaning operations, and earlier ran his own drycleaning businesses for more than 30 years. At ZIPS he will focus on building relationships with franchisees and bettering the overall system to drive growth, increase revenue, improve profitability, and maximize operational excellence.
“I am very pleased to be adding someone of Mike’s caliber to our team,” said Barry. “Mike’s leadership style is grounded in securing the right human capital, prioritizing the needs of the team, and focusing on growth and development. He will help us strengthen relationships with our franchisees and keeping us well-positioned to achieve our strategic goals.”
VanDruten spent more than two years prior to joining ZIPS as Tide’s franchise marketing manager and earlier held similar roles at Donato’s Pizza, Panera Bread, Dick’s Last Resort and Delta Private Jets. At ZIPS she will help franchisees implement effective marketing solutions to achieve their revenue goals.
“Implementing robust localized and grassroots marketing programs and becoming a vital and recognized part of the communities we serve are integral steps toward sales growth and ultimately the success of our stores,” said Donaghy. “We are thrilled to have Kristina add her experience in both drycleaning and franchise marketing to bring an elevated and focused level of support to our franchisees.” Like Weisel, Razmus operated her own independent drycleaning business for three decades before joining ZIPS seven years ago. While at ZIPS she has led development and implementation of some of the company’s most innovative and progressive operational improvements. In her new role, she will ensure that ZIPS harnesses, leverages, maintains and protects its IT systems amid ongoing advances in technology and the increasing threat of cyberattacks. She will also interact regularly with vendors to drive progress and source the most cost-effective tech solutions, lead a team tasked with setting up the ZIPS POS network in new stores and ensure all technology runs smoothly once a location opens.
“As we continue to grow, we will depend on Kathleen to keep our systems running efficiently and effectively, to identify opportunities to improve on them, and to defend us against any potential vulnerabilities,” said Barry. We are very excited that she is taking on this very important role to move our business to the next level.”
To learn more about ZIPS, visit www.321zips.com.
